Thierry Henry surprised the CBS Sports panel by naming a new frontrunner for the 2025 Ballon d’Or.
In last night’s Champions League action, Bayern Munich, Inter Milan, and Paris Saint-Germain secured their places in the quarter-finals with victories over Benfica, Feyenoord, and Liverpool respectively.
Barcelona also advanced after defeating Benfica 4-1 on aggregate. ..Continue Reading
Heading into the second leg at the Camp Nou with a narrow one-goal advantage from their win in Portugal, Barcelona extended their lead when Raphinha opened the scoring on the night.
The Brazilian added another goal, sealing a 3-1 victory (4-1 on aggregate) for the Catalan side.
Raphinha’s stellar performance not only powered Barca through but also saw him set a Champions League record for the most goals scored by a Brazilian in a single campaign, tallying an impressive 11 goals.
With 27 goals across all competitions this season, Raphinha has been in exceptional form.
Henry now considers the Brazilian forward a stronger contender for the 2025 Ballon d’Or than players like Mohamed Salah and Harry Kane.
“Raphinha is ahead for me now, he is ahead because of what he is doing in the Champions League,” he said on CBS Sports.
“He has 11 goals in the Champions League. Mo Salah is a great contender for it, Kane is a contender and [Ousmane] Dembele.
“It depends if you perform in the Champions League, on top of winning your league. Raphinha is on a lot of goals and with only one penalty.”
Henry argued: “I am not saying that Kane and Salah should not be having penalties, Mo Salah is having a season in the Premier League that we will never see again.
“I am saying that if a guy has virtually the same amount of goals as you guys scored, without penalties, I am not going to say that is bad what you did – it is outstanding – but this guy I have to talk a bit more about him.
“Raphinha, when people talk about being complete as a striker you need to know about putting on pressure also and defend, and help your full back. And he has it all.”
Raphinha joined Barca from Leeds United in the summer of 2022. He bagged 10 goals across all competitions in his first two campaigns.
In terms of goals, he’s enjoying the best season of his career so far.
